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What the Pope Should Do
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I couldn't help noticing that a local Jewish delegation is to meet the Pope during his visit to Sydney
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THE Giant of Australian Jewry
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4 Tammuz 5768 saw the passing of THE Giant of Australian Jewry, Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner OBM
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We Make Mentschen
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A Tribute to Rabbi Yitzchok Dovid Groner OBM
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Master or Monster?
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That's the screaming headline at the front of this week's Wentworth Courier, referring of course to internationally famous Australian photographer, Bill Henson.
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The Anzac Israel Connection
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On the Last Day of Pesach I spoke of the deep connection that exists between our "lucky country" of residence, Australia, and our country of origin and ultimate destiny, Israel.
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Tough Decisions
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Tough Decisions
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Remember those Less Fortunate
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Remember those Less Fortunate
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Time for Some Good News
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Time for Some Good News
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Purim Q & A
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Purim Q & A
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Two Halves of a Whole
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Two Halves of a Whole
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The True Meaning of Sorry
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The True Meaning of Sorry
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Great Innovations @ South Head
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Great Innovations @ South Head
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Chanukah & the Fast of Tevet
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Education begins at home.
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Chanukah: From Adam to Moshiach
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The dreidel has evolved from the humble clay or wood version that many of us hand-crafted as children, to the "hi-tech" multi-media version, replete with lights and musical accompaniment, that can be now be found on shop shelves and in many homes. Move aside plasma screens, the dreidel is the way to go.
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The Battle Within
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In Jewish thought Jacob and Esau are compared to the Yetzer Tov and the Yetzer Hara (the good inclination and the evil inclination) that reside simultaneously within the bosom of each of us.
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Israel - Living In or Living Out
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Fascinating really. Israel is deeply embedded in the consciousness of our people.
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Fantastic Start to JLI Course
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Our Jewish Learning Institute course, The Land and the Spirit, got off to a fantastic start in its first week with 64 people attending over the two sessions.
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A Battle of Two Souls
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The parasha commences with Rebecca's difficult pregnancy.We are told that she was so overwhelmed with the pain, that she even considered terminating it! This from a woman who had been barren for twenty years! It just doesn't make sense.
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The Jewish Response to Death
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When Sarah dies, Abraham does what any devoted husband would do - but more so. Not only does he bury her with the honour that was her due; he uses her passing to acquire the first Jewish property in Israel, the country that is called the Land of Life (Eretz HaChaim).
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Be a Child at Heart
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A child is full of boundless energy, always seeking to discover something new and never content to just sit around.
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Do You Care about Israel?
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Do you care about Israel? Of course you do. That you are reading this, and in all likelihood, reacted strongly to the suggestion that you may not care, is the clearest indication that you care deeply about Israel.
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The Tree of the Field
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In this week's parasha we are told that "Man is like the Tree of the Field" and on this basis the Talmud and commentaries expound upon the many similarities that exist in both Tree and Man.
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The Need to Celebrate Together
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In just a few short weeks we will be celebrating the High Holy Days. We are confident that you, our generous and warm-hearted community, will again assist the less fortunate in our community to celebrate Yom Tov in a befitting manner.
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Watch Your Manners!
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In this morning's Sydney Morning Herald there is an interesting piece on the role of schools in teaching manners and values to children. There are those who strongly feel that the school is there to teach academics whereas values and behaviour are the province of parents alone, whereas others are equally strong in the belief that value-education too is part of the school's brief.
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Feeling G-d's Pain
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The "three weeks" of mourning the destruction - traditionally called the "three of punishment" (tlasa d'paranusa) - have concluded. This week we commence reading the first of the seven haftorot of Consolation (sheva d'nechemta).
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The Shabbat of Vision
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This Shabbat is Shabbat Chazon, literally The Shabbat of Vision.
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Mind Your Own Business!
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"Ma Tovu Ohalecha Yaakov" - "How Goodly are Your Tents, O Jacob" - is a verse that is familiar to many of us. Appearing in the parasha of Balak, it is one of Bilaam's blessings to the Jewish People. But what does it mean?
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The Torah's Uncommon Sense
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In law courts around the world, confessing to a crime is considered absolute and irrefutable proof of guilt. Under most circumstances prosecutors will accept a plea of guilt to a lesser crime than go to trial in an attempt to secure a conviction on a more serious offence.
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Can the Dead be Alive?
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This past week we commemorated Gimmel Tammuz, the thirteenth Yahrzeit of the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
For Lubavitcher Chassidim, and for many others as well, the Rebbe is still very much alive - not only in Gan Eden (Paradise) but here on earth as well.
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Gimmel Tammuz
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Gimmel Tammuz
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Does G-d Really Care?
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Throughout the ages, religious philosophers have been confounded with the question:Why would G-d, Creator of a universe comprising a billion galaxies inhabited by a billion stars each, be concerned with us puny human beings, much less with the minutiae of our daily lives?
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When "Gay" isn't that Happy
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I think that many readers would be as shocked as I was to read that the Reform movement in Australia has decided to "bless" same-sex partnerships
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Celebrating Jewish Peoplehood
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In a few days we will celebrate the Festival of Shavuot, which ostensibly commemorates the Giving of the Torah. But is that all that happened? In truth something of far greater import occurred at Sinai.
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Should We Pray for Rain?
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The Prime Minister recently announced that the farmers of the Murray-Darling Basin - one of the nation's most important agricultural regions - faced having no water for the coming irrigation year unless heavy rain fell in the next six to eight weeks. He went on to say: "It's very serious, it's unprecedented in my lifetime and I really feel very deeply for the people affected. So we should all, literally and without any irony, pray for rain over the next six to eight weeks."
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It's Not What you Know
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It's not what you know; it's the diligence with which you apply it. And it turns out that getting markedly better results has little to do with greater intelligence, more talent or better tools. Applying greater diligence to what we do, paying more attention to detail, is what makes the real difference.
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Israel's Sixtieth Birthday
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On Monday April 23 we commemorate the State of Israel's 59th birthday, the beginning of her sixtieth year. The Talmud tells us that a person's sixtieth year is very significant. If one get's through one's sixtieth year, it's a potent sign that one has faced down the existential threats to one's life and can look forward to a future of joy and happiness.
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The Past is with us Always
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We don't merely live in the present. Life is not only about now and the future. The past is very much alive not only because of its contribution to the present but because it really still exists.
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The True Meaning of Freedom
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Together with our family, and all the team at South Head, we would like to take this opportunity of wishing you a Happy and Kosher Pesach. May it truly be a Festival of Freedom - a release from the worry and anxiety that so often plagues our lives.
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Pesach Resources
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With just over a week until Pesach, it's time to brush up on what we need to know and do for this most complex - but enjoyable! - of festivals.
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A Joyous Reunion
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I would like to share with you something truly beautiful that the Rebbetzen and I (and others in the Jewish community) experienced this week.
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Thank Yous & Photos
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Wow, we have had an exciting couple of weeks at South Head, so now it's time to express gratitude to those who contributed to our hugely successful events.
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Fancy Dress
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On the surface, the Megillah is the tale of the palace intrigues of the Royal Harem of Persia some 2,500 years ago. A quaint story of power and sex with anti-Semitism mixed in to boot.
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A Joyful Heart
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"When Adar enters, we increase in joy; when Av enters, we decrease in joy."
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Song of Defiance
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It is hard for us, living in this wonderful country, to even begint o understand the suffering of ouir people the not too distant past.
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What Did the Torah Achieve?
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Approximately six hundred people attended the Shloshim Service for our Bobbe, Rebbetzen Maryasha Garelik, on Monday night.
who passed away in New York at the age of 106 last month.
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Memorial Service
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Memorial Service February 5 / Shevat 17 South Head Synagogue, Sydney, Australia. Celebration of the life of a woman who lived an inspirational life of total sacrifice for, and commitment to, Judaism under the most adverse circumstances,
prevailing against the Czars, the Communists and the Nazis.
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Sadness: The Passing of a Great Woman
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It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of the Rebbetzen’s grandmother, Bobbe Maryasha, on Wednesday evening, 21 Teves, in New York.
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A Chanukah Present for You!
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Chanukah, as it's name implies, is a time of dedication and education. So what better time than now to dedicate a really terrific educational and enjoyable website.
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Light Your own Candle!
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Every Jew has untold potential. His body is the wax and his soul is the wick, but it requires our holy Torah and the Mitzvot to truly light us up.
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Today is the Day!
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Today is the Day! .. A strange paradox indeed.
In spite of our unique bond with our Land - an undying love that has survived 2,000 years of separation - it was Exile that was host to many of our greatest achievements.
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Participation at a Bris
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As I am sure everyone is aware, participation at a Bris Milah is considered a great Mitzvah.
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The Joys of Zeidahood
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People are constantly asking me, "How does it feel to be a Zeida, Saba, Grandpa..." And I must honestly answer, "Not a thing". But that is only until I see my little grandchild. Then, something else takes over. An inexplicable sensation that fills me to the very core of my being as I melt away in the overwhelming pleasure of just looking at him. And that feeling of elation does linger.
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Evolution vs. Einstein
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Last week’s TIME magazine featured a fascinating debate between the well-known atheist biologist Richard Dawkins and the famous mastermind of the human genome project Francis Collins, entitled "Science versus G-d". In shule last Friday night, I summarized the debate while adding a few insights of my own.
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Reach for the Stars!
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As a people our contribution to the world has far outweighed our numbers. In the fields of religion, medicine, science and finance - we have been major players throughout our history.
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Belief in G-d = Respect of Man
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All religious leaders, must be fully cognizant of the truth stated at the beginning of the Torah - "Let us make man in our image". Put simply this means recognition of the formula: "Belief in G-d = Respect of Man".
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Return to the Real World
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This Sunday marks the Seventh of Cheshvan. In the times of our Holy Temple, when pilgrims would return from Jerusalem after the holiday period, the Seventh of Cheshvan represented the day that those who lived furthest from Jerusalem would reach their homes.
In a symbolic kind of way, today too, the Seventh of Cheshvan represents a return to the "Real World" after the euphoria of the High Holiday period and the Festival of Succot which follows it.
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The Great Lights
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I am currently in Melbourne participating in a Conference of the Organisation of Rabbis of Australasia which was addressed this morning by Chief Rabbi of Great Britain, Sir Jonathan Sacks.
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Confidence, Joy and Positive Action
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Throughout this High Holy Day period my message to you has been one of confidence, happiness and positive action.
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Easy but Meaningful
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As we approach Yom Kippur I wish you an easy fast but a meaningful day. Indeed, to a large extent, one is dependent on the other.
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A Rosh Hashana Gift
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Together with your seat cards this year, yo |